News

British climber Adam Yates has bounced back from his crash two days ago to finish in a solid 17th position on the crucial stage 10 time trial at the Giro d’Italia.

Teammate and former Australian time trial champion Michael Hepburn also put in a strong performance to be the team’s best placed finisher in 13th place.

Outside of the time trial specialists, Yates, who admits time trialling isn’t his specialty, made time or equaled that of his main general classification contenders in a promising sign for the two weeks of racing to come.

The 24-year-old finished two-minutes 39seconds down on Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) who took the stage and pink jersey, but made time on the likes of Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo) and David Fromolo (Cannondale-Drapac).

“We are really pleased with Adam’s ride today,” sport director Matt White said. “We weren’t sure how he would pull up after Sunday’s crash so we are pleasantly surprised.”

“He has been working hard and we know his form is there.

“Obviously he lost some time to the specialists, we expected that, but he has also made time up or finished on-par with a lot of his main rivals.

“We haven’t move up any placings on the general classification but today has consolidated our position and we are confident that will come over the next two weeks.”

How it happened:

Today’s crucial stage 10 time trial threatened to open up the classifications as much as Sunday's summit finish.

The 39.8km course started flat for the first 15kilometres before it started to ramp up into rolling hills.

Amongst the first half of starters, Hepburn, an Olympic team pursuit medalist on the track, made his best effort to finish in 13th place.

Yates also made a strong start himself, crossing the first intermediate check in a provisional third place.

He continued to put in an impressive performance to finish in 17th overall, 2’39” down on the dominant performance of Dumoulin.